Parking lot operators have long been siloed into two camps – those who hire a parking attendant and those who leave payment to a parking machine or an honor box. Both rely on expensive parking gates and the age-old parking validation ticket.

Now there's a third type of operator that does not require ticket parking, and instead embraces a newer, cheaper and more effective form of parking control.

Here's 7 reasons you should give ticket parking the boot:

1. Hiring a parking attendant is costly
2. With minimum wage increasing across the majority of states, the cost of hiring a parking attendant is actually growing for most operators. This has accelerated an existing trend of further automating the modern parking lot.
3. Parking machines frequently jam (and are gross)
4. Have you ever tried to pay with a parking machine only to have your credit card covered in gum? How about have your payment rejected, like parking meters all across NYC did in January 2020? That's a bad experience for drivers, but an even worse revenue loss for lot owners!
5. Not to mention – with pathogens like COVID-19 lingering on surfaces, who wants to touch a public parking machine?
6. Parking gates are expensive and often faulty (and can be driven through)
7. The most basic parking gates have been known to run between $4,000 and $6,000, while on the higher end they can run an operator over $10,000.
8. Even worse, parking machines are notorious for malfunctioning and holding up traffic from leaving the lot. Sometimes that even means a brave soul drives right through it with his 4x4. So much for that investment...
9. The honor box doesn't work
10. The honor box sounds wonderful in theory, if only people would consistently pay their fair share. Unfortunately, these boxes consistently gross even less revenue than their faulty cousins, the parking machines – and make ticket parking a nonstarter compared to software alternatives.
11. Better payment systems exist! (ease=lower violation rate; low cost to implement)
12. Innovators like AirGarage have brought to market a text-to-pay solution, in which signage directs drivers to text a phone number to receive a payment link.
13. Studies have shown that humans are most likely to perform a behavior with sufficient motivation and ease. Texting to pay vs. using an old parking machine highlight the difference that ease has on payment compliance rate.
14. Parking management software will make your life easier
15. For those operators who manage multiple lots or many business operations, keeping track of ticket parking operations can be a huge headache – we get it!
16. Fortunately, software can automate both payment and enforcement and take work off your plate.
17. Innovators like AirGarage offer superior parking control systems
18. Why even consider ticket parking, when companies like AirGarage are FREE to partner with, and operate on a transparent 70/30 revenue share in your favor?
19. Aligned incentives are key to a successful partnership. AirGarage doesn't make money unless you do, so they want to maximize your revenue and keep violators out just as much as you do!

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